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Pre-Kindergarten

100 would not be half asnotable if it weren’t a shining example of how our ten-based number systemworks. For our 100th day ofschool, we shared with the children that, probably not so coincidentally, wehave the perfect set of ten wherever we go, our fingers! We then marked our fingers with paint and printedthem onto a number line to create a visual representation of that quantity!

Number sense is afoundational element of Pre-K mathematics. Every chance possible, we present numerals with their correspondingquantities. This includes buildingnumber lines and comparing “more” and “less/fewer” as with our Bears on a Boatexercise.

Posted by Jake Ramsay at 12/23/2014 In explaining that treats during celebratory times (e.g. holidays) are a symbol of the good fortune we have and the richness we feel inside, our class decided that we would give decorated cookies to a homeless shelter in Arlington to let our community friends there know that we wish them well.Comments (0)

Posted by Jake Ramsay at 10/8/2014 We relate our science to the familiar whenever possible. In the case of Itsy Bitsy Spider, the students are taught, from day one, that, “Out came the sun and EVAPORATED all the rain.” In fact, last week I accidentally reverted back to “dried up all the rain,” and the children all chimed in, “you mean evaporated!”This lesson shows how evaporating moisture collects as clouds and then releases back to earth when saturated.__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Comments (0)

Posted by Jake Ramsay at 9/29/2014 In Pre-K, we are learning to take note of the world around us. In weather, we do that with temperature by translating the abstract concept of a numerical value into the question of what clothes we need to feel comfortable in a given temperature. Chunking temperature ranges into, “cold, cool, warm, and hot,” while still exposing them to the numerical equivalent, introduces that dimension of the world around them. On a day that was relatively warm, but on which many of their parents had sent them to school wearing jackets, there was great discussion over which category Should be used, “cool” or “warm.” We headed straight to the outdoor classroom to put our understanding to the test.Comments (0)